UCD had to come from behind before sealing a hard-fought but deserved win over Waterford United at Belfield Park on Monday night. After trailing for over an hour, it took a debut goal from winger Patrick Kavanagh to finally break down the Blues' rearguard and set the Students on the way to victory in what was a very poor game technically.
Despite son Alan returning from suspension, manager Pete Mahon opted to stick with the side which had drawn 0-0 in Inchicore the previous Friday, with Alan claiming a spot on the bench in place of Damien Kelly. Also on the bench was Kavanagh, who had made his U-21 debut on Saturday and who was instrumental in a 6-0 win over St Pat's.
With Waterford still without a win after 13 games, UCD were strong favourites for victory, but they were stunned Paul McCarthy took advantage of slack defending inside the box to slot home unchallenged from ten yards after just 9 minutes. At that stage, you would have been forgiven for confusing the team bottom of the league with three points to their name with just one home defeat in their last five, and Waterford nearly made it 2-0 a couple of minutes later when Darren Quigley had to be quick off his line to snuff out a 1 on 1 chance after further hesitant UCD defending, and a minute later, a superb drive from the edge of the area - again set up by slack UCD defending - curled just over the bar.
As the half progressed, UCD came more into the game, and on the half hour had the ball in the net, but Alan McNally's goal was rightly ruled out for offside. However, as Waterford started defending deeper, UCD were getting men further forward, and this led to the unusual sight of Conor Kenna curling just over the bar from the edge of the area a couple of minutes later. As the Students started applying further pressure, Derek Doyle was just wide with a header under pressure from the Waterford defence, while the same player just couldn't turn quickly enough to force the ball into an empty net after keeper Jimmy Fyffe completely missed his punch.
However, Waterford got to half-time with their lead intact, and almost doubled it ten minutes into the second half when Darren Quigley again had to be off his line; this time to deny two Waterford attackers who had beaten the offside trap. From Quigley's clearance, UCD went straight up the pitch and Conor Sammon drove into the side netting.
Having watched his side apply plenty of pressure to no end result, Pete Mahon finally changed his team around on 65 minutes - Ronan Finn and Patrick Kavanagh came on for their fourth and first league appearances respectively, with Darragh Ryan and Gary Dicker making way. The change saw UCD swicth to three at the back, with Kavanagh playing on the right of a three-man attack. And it immediately began to reap benefits as UCD began to play a more controlled game, finding their passes more regularly and causing the visiting defence far more problems. Within a minute of the substitution, Conor Sammon nearly capitalised on defensive hesitation, but it still took until the 75th minute before UCD finally drew level. Conor Sammon received a ball inside the penalty area and lay off a pass for Kavanagh, overlapping on the right, to wallop home a first-time drive.
Waterford occasionally threatened the short-changed UCD defence with quick counters, but by and large, the Students were untroubled at the back and had free rein to go forward as they pleased. And just five minutes after equalising, they had the lead - Brian Shortall, as he had done in the RSC, heading home from a corner. Pete Mahon immediately withdrew Derek Doyle and put on Alan Mahon - it was certainly tempting fate to leave the three-man defence on the pitch unnecessarily as Waterford had had a couple of promising counter-attacks. And the sub indeed worked as UCD saw out the rest of the game fairly comfortably to seal their fourth home win of the season.
UCD - Quigley; Kenna, Ryan (Finn 72), Shortall, McNally; McDonnell, Hurley, Dicker (Kavanagh 72), Doyle (Mahon 82); McWalter, Sammon. Subs not used - Hussey, Quinn
Att - 184
